Bora Milutinovic: No one wants to lose the matchesIt is a hard time to be Chinese head coach Bora Milutinovic now: the national team played four warm-up matches recently, and lost all of them.Some of the players have begun to express their disappointment in public, journalists have criticized the Yugoslavian's preparation for 2002 World Cup qualifying, and CFA officials regard Bora as a coach who does not respect China. But, as is his nature, Bora still has confidence in himself and in Chinese soccer. "No one wants lose the matches," Bora said, "All the players tried their best. The national team played four matches in three continents in one month. Fans and the media should consider the situation. Although we lost the matches, I will insist on my plan: playing more matches. I believe that is the only way to improve our levels in a short period. In fact we have learnt some useful things from the failures." Some reporters think there are some unqualified players in the national team, such as Song Lihui, Xu Yang and Wang Liang, who made an own-goal in the match against USA. As for that point, Bora said, "Each coach has his standard of selecting players. I think these players have potential and it is enough for them to try their best on the pitch." China's national team begins training for The King's Cup in Thailand from February 17 to 20 today. The match against Japan on March 4 will be China's last warm-up before 2002 World Cup qualifying. |
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